Friday, November 13, 2015

A Baker’s Dozen of Neglected Russian Stories – No. 10

Paul Goble

Staunton, November 13 -- The flood of news stories
from a country as large, diverse and often strange as the Russian Federation
often appears to be is far too large for anyone to keep up with. But there
needs to be a way to mark those which can’t be discussed in detail but which
are too indicative of broader developments to ignore.

Consequently, Windows on Eurasia will
present a selection of 13 of these other and typically neglected stories at the
end of each week. This is the tenth such weekly compilation. It is only
suggestive and far from complete, but perhaps one or more of these stories will
prove of broader interest.

2.Pskov Schoolteacher
Asks Governor How She is Supposed to Live on Her Salary.A schoolteacher in Pskov oblast has publicly
asked the governor there how she is supposed to live on her miserly salary,
apparently aware that some officials don’t depend on their salaries alone (svoboda.org/content/article/27359984.html).

3.Designer ‘Vatniks’ – How Russia’s Rich Can Show Their
True Colors.
Wealthy Russians can now don special designer “vatniks,” the cotton padded
jacket worn typically by the poor and now a symbol for those who support
Vladimir Putin (govoritmoskva.ru/news/58204/).

5.Doping Scandal
Serious Because Sports Victories Compensate for Kremlin’s Failures.An RBC commentator suggests one of the reasons
the findings of the WADA are such a threat to the Kremlin: Russians often view
victories in sports, however obtained, as compensation for other failings by
those in power (rbc.ru/opinions/society/05/11/2015/563b39da9a7947df0115fe4a).

6.Buryat Resident
Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for 100 Ruble Bribe. A resident of
Buryatia was sentenced to three years in jail for offering less than a two
dollar bribe to police to look the other way about his offense.The case has drawn the attention of media
across Russia and gone viral on the Internet (m.lenta.ru/news/2015/11/11/bribe/).
Also attracting attention is a finding that only one in every 600 people
charged by Russian prosecutors is ultimately found not guilty (antijournalist.by/prigovor/).

8.Russians Upset by
New Belarusian Banknotes and Estonian School Globe That Doesn’t Show Russia.A Regnum commentator is outraged that Belarus
is issuing new coins and banknotes which resemble EU currency and show
Belarusian historian scenes. He says that is a “Russophobic” action (regnum.ru/news/economy/2007264.html).
Regnum is also upset by the appearance in Estonia of globes for children which
do not show the existence of the Russian Federation (regnum.ru/news/society/2009266.html).
That must be especially infuriating to those Russians who believe the claims of
others that Russians “invented” Estonians (jurialhaz.livejournal.com/190197.html).

9.Does Russia have
Enough Jews to Defeat China in a War? Stanislav Belkovsky tells an anecdote
which reflects many Russian fears. According to the story, a Russian commander
told his subordinates that in any war with China, the quality of Russian forces
will overcome the quantity of Chinese soldiers just as Israeli soldiers are
regularly able to defeat more numerous Arab ones. Someone in his audience asked
him: “but does Russia have enough Jews to win?” (facenews.ua/news/2015/296731/).

10.Are the Chinese about to Learn Finnish?In Soviet times,
one anecdote had it that when asked what conditions would be like in the USSR
in 2000, Radio Armenia responded that it didn’t know but that the situation
along the Sino-Finnish border should be peaceful.Some Russians may be thinking about that now
given that there are reports that Chinese students are now studying Evenk, a
language spoken by only a few thousand people in Siberia (portamur.ru/news/detail/amurskie-i-kitayskie-shkolniki-sorevnuyutsya-v-znanii-evenkiyskogo-yazyik).

11.Perm Scholars Refuse
to Rename Mountain in Honor of Crimea’s Annexation. Saying that it
was “too insignificant an event,” instructors are Perm university have declared
that they oppose renaming a nearby mountain in honor of the annexation of
Crimea, yet another indication that ever more Russians don’t see the Anschluss
as the great triumph Putin presents it as being (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5642F6A40B5E3).

12.Volgograd Youths Solemnly Raised to the Status of
Slavs.
Young people in Volgograd are taking part in a festival which seeks to make
them into true Slavs. Enactors of figures from Russian folklore solemnly lead them
through arcs of flowers and swords and then declare them real Slavs, yet
another way in which Russian officials are seeking to strengthen Russian
identity (life34.ru/event/posvyashhenie-shkol-nikov-v-slavyane/).